Producing Cocoa In British West Africa

AUSTRALIAN confectionery manufac-

turers, who are paying over £A2BO ihot f 2L T„ C f°^ bea ,. nSI ha !f V een - ur f, mB

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SMo Ot Xw P e h r S s be ° £ The bulk of the world’s cocoa to-dav is grown in West Africa. It is 100 per cent, a native industry. an-io ovornrm, u The evergreen Theobroma cacao is a native of tropical America which still produces largely. British West Africa got its start in cocoa production when a

great English Quaker chocolate manufacturer (Cadbury) refused to buy cocoa fr °“ the plantations rgl^the^^e^ 2 Vfc b a°n Ur pro^Sn ye w a al

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The photgraphs show (Top Left): A Yjf®® 4 4 f ni c c an cutt - ng tl ? e P° ds from il \ e free. Pods va r y ln colour from purple ye U° w and a PP ea r erratically anywhere on the tree on the bare trunk, at the junction of. branches, or among the leaves. (Top Right): The pods are cut in half and the mass of seeds,

bound together with fruit pulp are extracted (Bottom Left)' Beans are then separated from the pulp and sorted

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are°dr S ied We’s^ 0 " 1 Blght) they Before the war the natives sold or withheld their produce as they saw fit, and according to the orices offering in the native markets. During the war the British Government acquired the whole of the West African cocoa crop This “control” still persists